(Press-News.org) CORVALLIS, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered a way to make a low-cost material that might accomplish negative refraction of light and other radiation – a goal first theorized in 1861 by a giant of science, Scottish physicist James Maxwell, that has still eluded wide practical use.
Other materials can do this but they are based on costly, complex crystalline materials. A low-cost way that yields the same result will have extraordinary possibilities, experts say – ranging from a "super lens" to energy harvesting, machine vision or "stealth" coatings for seeming invisibility.
Entire new products and industries could be possible. The findings have just been published and a patent has been applied for on the technology.
The new approach uses ultra-thin, ultra-smooth, all-amorphous laminates, essentially a layered glass that has no crystal structure. It is, the researchers say, a "very high-tech sandwich."
The goal is to make radiation bend opposite to the way it does when passing through any naturally occurring material. This is possible in theory, as Maxwell penciled out during the American Civil War. In reality, it's been pretty difficult to do.
"To accomplish the task of negative refraction, these metamaterials have to be absolutely perfect, just flawless," said Bill Cowell, a doctoral candidate in the OSU School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. "Everyone thought the only way to do that was with perfectly crystalline materials, which are quite expensive to produce and aren't very practical for large-area commercial application.
"We now know these materials may not need to be that exotic."
The new study has explained how easy-to-produce laminate materials, created with technology similar to that used to produce a flat panel television, should work for this purpose. The findings outline the component materials and the theoretical behavior of the laminates, Cowell said. They were just published in Physica Status Solidi A, in work supported by the National Science Foundation.
"We haven't yet used this approach to achieve negative refraction, but the findings suggest it should work for that," he said. "That will be one goal of continuing research. No one had thought of using amorphous metals for this purpose. They didn't think it could be that simple."
Negative refraction, Cowell said, is a brilliant idea. It is based on the equations developed by the young physicist and mathematician Maxwell more than 150 years ago – work for which he is revered, along with Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, as one of the greatest physicists who ever lived. Einstein kept a photograph of Maxwell on his office wall.
But for generations, theory is about all that it was. Just in the past decade have researchers finally figured out how to create materials of any type that can achieve negative refraction. A way to accomplish that at low cost for the commercial marketplace could be of considerable importance, scientists say.
One application of particular interest is a "super lens," a device that might provide light magnification at levels that dwarf any existing technology. Many applications are possible in electronics manufacturing, lithography, biomedicine, insulating coatings, heat transfer, space applications, and perhaps new approaches to optical computing and energy harvesting.
The discovery of amorphous metamaterials is an outgrowth of recent findings at OSU about ways to create a metal-insulator-metal, or MIM diode, also of commercial significance. The OSU research is one of the latest advances in "dispersion engineering," or the control of electromagnetic radiation.
###
Editor's Note: A digital image is available to illustrate this story: http://bit.ly/yJaDlP
END
As another cold British winter passes by many British tourists are making plans to head off on long weekends and trips to the sunshine during the spring. With that in mind Carrentals.co.uk has sourced new prices to let people rent a car for less on trips to the beaches of Cyprus or for long weekends on the north-west coast of England.
The island of Cyprus remains as popular a destination as ever for UK travellers and tourists, with its mix of sunshine, beautiful beaches and a warm welcome from locals. Many Brits choose to fly into Cyprus' Larnaca Airport, and right now ...
San Diego, Calif. – Each year, phytoplankton blooms known as "red tides" kill millions of fish and other marine organisms and blanket vast areas of coastal water around the world. Though the precise causes of red tides remain a mystery, a team of researchers in the United States and Spain has solved one of the main riddles about these ecological disasters by uncovering the specific mechanism that triggers phytoplankton to release their powerful toxins into the environment.
"Previous theories about how phytoplankton release toxins proposed a rather awkward, untested 'exudation' ...
Under a microscope, a tiny droplet slides between two fine hairs like a roller coaster on a set of rails until — poof — it suddenly spreads along them, a droplet no more.
That instant of change, like the popping of soap bubble, comes so suddenly that it seems almost magical. But describing it, and mapping out how droplets stretch into tiny columns, is a key to understanding how liquids affect fibrous materials from air filters to human hair. And that knowledge allows scientists to better describe why water soaks into some materials, beads atop others and leaves others ...
Action dash Games' new website just launched with over 50 fast paced action games. Every subgenre of the action games scene is catered to on this site. For players who are into shooters, for instance, there's Dead Frontier, a top dozen zombie game that plays like Gears of War might have on the Sega Genesis. This game features dark, gritty graphics, hardcore shooting, and satisfyingly crunchy sound effects.
If you want some running and jumping action, check out Stickicide 3, a stick figure platforming game that has you dodging traps and even driving vehicles to get from ...
Cooking Games 365 has recently launched its new website, which features free online action games related to cooking, baking, dessert and pizza decorating, and restaurant and catering administration. The site hosts links to hundreds of interactive food preparation-related video games that any Internet user can play completely free of charge. The gameplay of certain games is at times challenging, but anyone can learn to rise to the culinary challenges presented in each game. The content of the games is appropriate for all ages. Game players might be schoolchildren who dream ...
As the Earth's climate changes, the worst inundations from hurricanes and tropical storms could become far more common in low-lying coastal areas, a new study suggests. Researchers from Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that regions such as the New York City metropolitan area that currently experience a disastrous flood every century could instead become submerged every one or two decades.
The researchers report in the journal Nature Climate Change that projected increases in sea level and storm intensity brought on by climate change ...
James Colman to take up post in April 2012.
Gatwick Airport announced today that James Colman will be joining the Executive Management team as Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Director, taking up the post in April.
He will lead a team of 22 people spanning media and PR, Public Affairs, Internal Communications, Airport Communications and Corporate Responsibility.
2012 will be a critical year for the Government's new aviation policy and James will be responsible for positioning Gatwick in the critical debates about the future of UK aviation, as well as continuing ...
JUPITER, FL, February 23, 2012 – Although it's widely accepted that inflammation is a critical underlying factor in a range of diseases, including the progression of cancer, little is known about its role when normal cells become tumor cells. Now, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shed new light on exactly how the activation of a pair of inflammatory signaling pathways leads to the transformation of normal breast cells to cancer cells.
The study, led by Jun-Li Luo, an assistant professor at Scripps Florida, was published online ...
- Julia Gregory joins Gatwick as Head of Surface Transport
- Gatwick committed to enhancing the airport's strategic connectivity
- Encouraging more air passengers to use public transport is key priority
Julia Gregory joined Gatwick Airport earlier this year as Head of Surface Transport with responsibility for setting and delivering the airport's surface access strategy in support of the airport's ambition to compete and grow to become London's airport of choice.
Gatwick can see a clear path to grow to 40 million passengers by the end of this decade on its single ...
Patrick J. Bartels, Esq. and Jennifer L. Harwood, Esq. of Keefe Bartels represented the Estate of Vincent Cook and his widow, Muriel Cook in an asbestos case filed in Middlesex County, New Jersey (The Estate of Vincent Cook v. A.W. Chesterton Company, et al. Docket No. MID-L-4659-05 AS). Mr. Cook was a member of Local 28 Boilermakers Union, and worked as a boilermaker for over 40 years before he retired in 1988. As a boilermaker, he worked at numerous job sites throughout New Jersey including PSE&G sites at Hudson, Sewaren, Mercer, and Linden, and refineries such as ...
